This is the third year that the University of Chicago Booth has required a slide presentation as part of their MBA application. Based on working with four clients admitted to the Class of 2011 and one admitted to the Class of 2010, I am confident that the advice I offer below is effective. Each of these client's presentations was distinct and provided admissions with interesting set of perspectives on the applicant. Some of the slides looked really professional, while others were clearly not. Some were funny, others less so. Some were high concept, others very simple and direct. All of these slides worked in their own way.

It is not often that a school’s essay question gets the attention of the press, but Booth’s Question Three did when it first came out. While the mandatory use of PowerPoint is novel, is this question so odd? See below!

After I analyze Booth's PowerPoint question, I conclude with some specific suggestions for how to brainstorm for your answer.

While Chicago Booth has proven itself to have an absolutely brilliant PR strategy by issuing press releases and otherwise making it appear that this is totally new, I think this is only partially the case, as I will discuss below. Chicago is the first school torequire a PowerPoint as a part of the application, but it is not the first to allow the use of one as part of the process.

Two Prior Uses of PowerPoint in the MBA Application Process:I think it is important to realize that Chicago is not the first school to allow for the use of PowerPoint or other presentation slide content as part of the application process.
The use of slide presentations has long been a possibility for both NYU Stern and HEC.

I point out the above two examples out merely to show that while Booth's use of PowerPoint is certainly novel, it is not without precedent.MAKING A PRESENTATION IS A PRACTICAL TEST OF BASIC BUSINESS ABILITY
Consider some of the standard parts of the application and how they reflect on the applicant's abilities:

RESUME: Ability to effectively convey one's core professional, academic, and personal experience for the purposes of getting selected for an interview.

GOALS ESSAYS: Ability to clearly articulate a plan.

INTERVIEW: Ability to effectively convince an interviewer that you are good fit for the organization (in this case as a student in B-School).

RECOMMENDATIONS: Ability to obtain powerful endorsements designed to help convince a selection committee.

Looked at from this perspective, PowerPoint is a fundamental business skill. Like MIT Sloan's cover letter and every school's resume, at some level, Chicago 3 is testing the applicant's basic business skills. Why not test for it?

Anyone who has been or wants to be a businessperson will have spent countless hours preparing and delivering presentations. If you want to go do IPO Roadshows, sell a room of people your services, convince a Board of Directors, etc, you will need slides and those slides will be made with PowerPoint. It seems totally reasonable to me to ask anyone to use it because they will have to anyway.

In fact, for anyone who has actually is good at PowerPoint, they may find it necessary to compromise on their aesthetics and technical skills in order to most effectively answer the question. Especially those who believe in providing a minimal amount of content per slide might find it necessary to increase the amount of content they include.

As someone who previously made the transition from text heavy slides to minimalist ones when delivering sales and marketing presentations, I know that if I had to answer this question, I would have to compromise on what I consider to be my own best practices for making PowerPoint slides.

NOT A TEST OF YOUR ABILITY TO DELIVER A PRESENTATION, BUT A TEST OF YOUR ABILITY TO PREPARE ONE
Always remember that you are being tested on your ability to prepare a presentation, not to deliver one. Hence, you should always first think of this as a text that will be read, not one that will be spoken.

If you still think you need to learn more about PowerPoint, I suggest reading Presenting to Win by Jerry Weissman, the Silicon Valley PowerPoint Guru. When I first read Chicago's question, I looked for a book focused on the story telling aspect of PowerPoint and I think this is it. You can read my mini-review and buy the book here. Visit Weissman's site here.

Let's Think About Length
You will have four slides plus 200 words for the notes to communicate your message. Regarding the notes, Rose Martinelli has further stated that thenotes document"should not exceed one paragraph per slide." Depending on your perspective, this might seem like a great deal of text or not very much. Given that the notes give you about 50 words to further clarify each slide, the actual total amount of content is really likely to be in the 300-600 word range depending on what you do with the slides.

Now that we have looked at the overall context for this question, let’s think about what is actually being asked.

What was the question again?
THE CORE PART OF THE QUESTION: "we invite you tell us about yourself" is very simple. I could restate it as "please help us understand who you are."

WHAT YOU SHOULD NOT WRITE ABOUT:
1. As the beginning of the question states, Chicago has already asked for "a great deal of information throughout this application." This is stated in contrast to what they want you to tell them. Therefore don't focus on facts that they can find elsewhere in the application.
2. In Essay 1, you have already discussed your goals and why you want an MBA from Chicago, so don't discuss goals and why MBA here.

SO WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO WRITE ABOUT?
IT IS ALL ABOUT YOU!
Some Questions to get you brainstorming:1. What do you want Chicago to know about you that would positively impact your chances for admission?
2. What major positive aspects of your life have not been effectively INTERPRETED to the admissions committee in other parts of the application?
3. If you were going to tell admissions four things about you that would not be obvious from rest of the application, what would they be? Why should Booth care?
4. If there was one story about yourself that you think would really help admissions understand you and want to admit you, what is it?
5. Do you have a personal interest (painting and poetry for example) that would work effectively in a PowerPoint?
6. If you have a sense of humor and/or creativity, how can you express it here? I suggest doing so if you can.

As you can see, these questions would lead to very different kinds of responses. There is no one way to answer this question, but I believe there are right ways for every applicant to do so.Previously, one of my readers asked three very good questions about the Slide Presentation. I am reprinting them in slightly altered form below.

1) In your opinion, should one use a minimalistic approach involving images to convey one's ideas?

I think this will really depend on you. The important thing is to effectively convey something important about who you are to the admissions committee. If that can be done effectively with more images that is great, if it can be done effectively with minimal or no images that is also great. The important thing is that your reader understands the significance of any images you use. Luckily, you have the notes for that purpose. Just as in "real" PowerPoints, images or any graphic element can be used effectively or badly. Always ask yourself, "Why am I using this image? Does it really help them understand me?" If it does, keep it. If it is mere decoration, think about eliminating it or replacing it with something that will have a positive impact on Chicago's ability to understand who you are.

2) Would a little bit of humor do good e.g. a cartoon?
Keeping in mind what I just wrote above, I think humor can be used effectively. You must practice extremely good judgment when using humor for any application. Don't make a joke simply to make one. Use humor if it is effective in conveying something that will compel Rose and her colleagues to want to interview you. That said, I have had a number of clients who successfully used humor in their applications for Chicago Booth.

3) Is Booth looking for an analytical assessment of one's personality in these slides?

I think they are looking for a meaningful assessment of your personality. I will not say "analytical" because that is just one possibility. If by "analytical" you mean a detailed explanation for your character making use of standard forms of argument, it is fine to do it that way, but not the only way. I use the word "meaningful" because it does not necessarily require logic or analysis to do so. For example, an image with some kind of description may provide Chicago Booth with great insight into who you are. Since Chicago is specifically being "non-traditional," you certainly can be also so long as you answer the question.

Finally, think big and be creative. To answer this one effectively will take time, but if you want to get into Chicago Booth, put in the time.